Tuesday, September 18, 2012

The Tea Party ranks “dead last” in CBS poll, even less popular than atheists.

When a group of citizens wants to incorporate religion into politics, the result is failure: especially when it pertains to U.S. politics.

In the late seventies until the eighties, we saw the beginning and the end of the Moral Majority, a political action group composed of conservative, fundamentalist Christians. Founded (1979) and led (1979–87) by evangelist Rev. Jerry Falwell, the group played a significant role in the 1980 elections through its strong support of conservative candidates. It lobbied for prayer and the teaching of creationism in public schools, while opposing the Equal Rights Amendment (see: Feminism), homosexual rights, abortion, and the U.S.-Soviet SALT treaties (see: Disarmament, nuclear). The Moral Majority was dissolved in 1989.

Sound familiar?

America was founded by Deists, not Christians as the Tea Party would have you believe. Yet they seem hell bent on forcing their Christian values on Muslims, Jews, atheists, Buddhists and every other group.

The unpopularity of the Tea Party stems from the fact it is a small group of primarily white Christians with deeply conservative values, who are trying to bully Americans and force us into their personal, political and religious ideology.

A census study recently revealed that whites are now a minority in the U.S. As CNN reported back in 2009, more Americans are rejecting religion altogether.

The Tea Party calls for “less government” but they contradict themselves when they look to have government control what women do with their bodies, dictate who and how we are allowed to love and remove science from school curriculums in favor of religious teachings that are shared by a dwindling segment of the population. They take an extreme stance on governance and when met with reason and logic, they absolutely refuse to accept anything other than their own agenda.

Mitt Romney has fallen victim to appeasing them and the result has been a candidate who is not taken seriously by anyone, including the Tea Party.

With a 24-hour news cycle, an array of right-wing websites and social media, their collective voices are louder than ever before. They are like the Moral Majority on steroids. With members such as Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Jan Brewer and VP pick Paul Ryan, they have a strong presence and a very loud voice. While one should never underestimate their power, they do not represent the majority of Americans.

Think about it this way: the Tea Party is like 25 mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus released into a closed room of 100 people wearing shorts and t-shirts. They may be in the minority but they are capable of creating chaos—and they have.

The remedy is quite simple. Vote them out on November 6. We have the collective power. They gained a majority in the House in 2010 because the Bush economy — that took eight years to send us into a depression — wasn’t fixed in just two years under Obama, and impatient voters either stayed home or voted against their own best interests, thinking John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and Eric Cantor would be their saviors.